Volume : 4 | Issue : 9 | Sept 2015 ISSN - 2250-1991
47 | PARIPEX - INDIAN JOURNAL OF RESEARCH
Research Paper
Research on The Wireless Meter Reading
Technology Applied in Ultrasonic Water Meter
Based on Zigbee
Engineering
Zhao Hong
School of Computer and Communication, Lanzhou University of
Technology, No.287 Langongping Road Qilihe District, Lanzhou
City, Gansu, P.R.China, 13909489418
Guo Li-lu
School of Computer and Communication, Lanzhou University of
Technology, No.287 Langongping Road Qilihe District, Lanzhou
City, Gansu, P.R.China, 18189546800
Wang Wen-jing
School of Computer and Communication, Lanzhou University of
Technology, No.287 Langongping Road Qilihe District, Lanzhou
City, Gansu, P.R.China, 18652950108
KEYWORDS
wireless meter reading system, ultrasonic water meter, Zigbee wireless communication, proto-
col
ABSTRACT
In view of the traditional cable meter reading way of household water meter existing many disadvantages, one kind of
remote wireless meter reading method based on Zigbee communication technology has been proposed. Firstly, analyze the
measuring principle and communication parameters of ultrasonic water meter, and then modify the code which involves
serial port baud rate, parity and message transmission in protocol stack on the basis of the Z-stack data transparent
transmission project. In addition, the paper also gives the design of the overall framework of wireless meter reading system
and instructions on the usage of the upper machine. Experimental tests show that the system can effectively replace
traditional cable reading way and has a certain application value.
INTRODUCTION
Ultrasonic water meter is one kind of measuring equipment
which is widely used in modern industry. It measures flow in
a non-contact way, which is an important supplement of tra-
ditional mechanical measurement. Ultrasonic water meter is a
fully electronic water meter which uses the ultrasonic propa-
gation time difference principle and is manufactured by indus-
trial electronic components. Compared with the mechanical
water meter, it has many advantages, such as high precision,
good reliability, broad range ratio, long service life, no moving
parts, at any angle installing, etc. It provides an effective solu-
tion especially for large diameter pipeline and strong corrosive,
radioactive and other harmful medium measurement.
With the development of the Internet of things technology,
the research and development of wireless meter reading sys-
tem applied in ultrasonic water meter also gradually get the
attention of people[1,2]. Traditional cable meter reading way
exists many disadvantages, such as the in-home trouble, the
high cost of wiring, lines including a safety hazard and so on,
which leads people to be badly in need of an effective wire-
less alternative[3]. Zigbee as a new two-way communication
protocol based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard wireless local
area network (LAN), has the characteristics of short distance,
low power consumption, low cost, low complexity, self-or-
ganization[4], is suitable for wireless sensor networks, remote
control, intelligent household and many other areas[5,6].
Therefore, using Zigbee technology is undoubtedly the ideal
solution for wireless meter reading system.
This article focuses on how to use the Zigbee wireless technol-
ogy to improve the existing ultrasonic water meter on the mar-
ket, so as to design a set of complete wireless meter reading
scheme. Using Jiangsu Maxtor corporation’s MTW-9 type ultra-
sonic water meter as an example, the adaptation process be-
tween the intrinsic characteristics of water meter and Z-Stack
data transparent transmission project are discussed in detail,
such as baud rate, parity and RS485 interface, which mainly in-
clude CJ/T 188-2004 protocol analysis, the study of serial port
communication protocol and the key code changing of Z-Stack,
etc. Finally, we use an upper computer program to test the
whole system. The results show that the improved ultrasonic
water meter can realize reliable wireless meter reading function,
meeting the demand of industry in the meter reading and re-
place the traditional cable meter reading perfectly.
MEASURING PRINCIPLE OF ULTRASONIC WATER METER
Ultrasonic water meter realizes the flow measurement by us-
ing the ultrasonic propagation characteristics in the liquid.
When the ultrasonic wave travels in a liquid, it will carry on
the fluid velocity information, such as the velocity in direct
flow or reverse flow, which will change due to the superpo-
sition of the liquid velocity. So the ultrasonic transducers are
respectively installed in upstream and downstream of the wa-
ter meter measuring channel used on transmitting or receiving
ultrasonic signal, the flow velocity of measured liquid can be
detected by calculation of ultrasonic propagation time differ-
ence. In the case of known cross-sectional area of water me-
ter’s measuring channel and known fixed parameters of ultra-
sonic transducers, the flow rate of liquid can be calculated out
by using water meter’s built-in chip. The measurement princi-
ple is shown in figure 1.
Figure 1 The measurement principle of water meter